Hotfix Available for Windows 7 ‘0x0000003B’ Stop Error

The problem is associated only with specific applications, according to Microsoft

Some applications can cause functionality issues in Windows 7, Microsoft revealed, with customers even experiencing crashes, and the less-than-loved Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).

In the case of crashes, users can come across the "0x0000003B" stop error, according to the software giant.

This can happen if they run certain apps on Windows 7 RTM or Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1). The Redmond company also notes that Windows Server 2008 R2 customers can also find that they’re impacted by this problem.

Microsoft did not offer a list of the applications that can cause the issue described above, but the company did offer one example.

It appears that users running Cyberlink YouCam have come across the glitch, and have had their computers crash.

The software giant not only confirmed the problem, but also offered a few details about the root cause:

“This issue occurs because the D3D9 runtime does not perform parameter validation on the rectangle values that are passed by applications such as YouCam,” Microsoft said.

“Therefore, invalid rectangle coordinates are passed to the Dxgkrnl.sys module. However, the Dxgkrnl.sys module also does not validate the rectangle coordinates, and a "divide by zero" exception occurs.”

KB 2584454 was published last month to help customers access additional details on the issue, as well as a fix.

For the time being, Microsoft Support is only offering a hotfix for download to users running Windows 7 RTM and SP1 as well as Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM and SP1.

The promise from Microsoft is that this particular hotfix will be included in Service Pack 2 for Windows 7. But until Windows 7 SP2 becomes available for download, affected customers can already go ahead and deploy the hotfix.